Abramo Hortelius Biography
Abramo Ortelio (Latinized as: Abrahamus Ortelius or Orthellius, from the Flemish Abraham Oertel; Ortels od Hortels) (Antwerp, 14 April 1528 – Antwerp, 28 June 1598) was a Flemish cartographer. Ortelius was with Mercator the great founder of Flemish cartography and is remembered for having published the first modern atlas. After studying Greek, Latin and mathematics, he settled in Antwerp, the great port of the Seventeen Spanish Provinces, as a bookseller and cartographer. He traveled extensively and published a planisphere in 8 sheets in 1564 which met with great success. His way of working was significantly different from his rival and friend Mercator: Orthelius drew up the maps through his professional contacts or friendships with European cartographers. Twenty-five years before Mercator's atlas, he had his collection of maps engraved on the same scale by Franz Hogenberg (1570) which was published under the title of Theatrum Orbis Terrarume which in effect constitutes the first atlas, a publication which saw four reprints in its first ten years after its release. In total, the Theatrum was published in seven languages and thirty-six editions. Orthelius was also the first to cite his sources for the maps, mentioning the names of the cartographers at the origin of the cartographic information. Ortelius also published several historical maps, some of which were incorporated into the Theatrum. His Parergon Theatri was published between 1579 and 1606, containing a reproduction of the Tavola Peutingeriana. In 1570 Orthelius obtained the monopoly for the "atlases", which in particular prevented Gerard of Jode, who had published the map of the world in 1564, from publishing his own atlas before 1578. He also distributed copper engravings of the cartographic tables of the Baviera by Filippo Apiano in book form ex tabula Philippi Apiani.
